PREACHING OF ST. BERNARD
The apostle of the Second Crusade was the great abbot of Clairvaux, St. Bernard. [12] Scenes of the wildest enthusiasm marked his preaching. When the churches were not large enough to hold the crowds which flocked to hear him, he spoke from platforms erected in the fields. St. Bernard's eloquence induced two monarchs, Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany, to take the blood-red cross of a crusader.
FAILURE OF THE SECOND CRUSADE
The Second Crusade, though begun under the most favorable auspices, had an unhappy ending. Of the great host that set out from Europe, only a few thousands escaped annihilation in Asia Minor at the hands of the Turks. Louis and Conrad, with the remnants of their armies, made a joint attack on Damascus, but had to raise the siege after a few days. This closed the crusade. As a chronicler of the expedition remarked, "having practically accomplished nothing, the inglorious ones returned home."
SALADIN
Not many years after the Second Crusade, the Moslem world found in the famous Saladin a leader for a holy war against the Christians. Saladin in character was a typical Mohammedan, very devout in prayers and fasting, fiercely hostile toward unbelievers, and full of the pride of race. To these qualities he added a kindliness and humanity not surpassed, if equaled, by any of his Christian foes. He lives in eastern history and legend as the hero who stemmed once for all the tide of European conquest in Asia.
CAPTURE OF JERUSALEM BY SALADIN, 1187 A.D.
Having made himself sultan of Egypt, Saladin united the Moslems of Syria under his sway and then advanced against the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Christians met him in a great battle near the lake of Galilee. It ended in the rout of their army and the capture of their king. Even the Holy Cross, which they had carried in the midst of the fight, became the spoil of the conqueror. Saladin quickly reaped the fruits of victory. The Christian cities of Syria opened their gates to him, and at last Jerusalem itself surrendered after a short siege. Little now remained of the possessions which the crusaders had won in the East.
THIRD CRUSADE ORGANIZED, 1189 A.D.
The news of the taking of Jerusalem spread consternation throughout western Christendom. The cry for another crusade arose on all sides. Once more thousands of men sewed the cross in gold, or silk, or cloth upon their garments and set out for the Holy Land. When the three greatest rulers of Europe—Philip Augustus, [13] king of France, Richard I, king of England, and the German emperor, Frederick Barbarossa [14]—assumed the cross, it seemed that nothing could prevent the restoration of Christian supremacy in Syria.